New Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha’s announcement of leaving the Aam Aadmi Party and joining the Bharatiya Janata Party was not an isolated move. This was linked to specific constitutional provisions that included words such as “two-thirds” and “merger”.“Addressing a press conference, he said, “We have decided that we, two-thirds of the AAP members in the Rajya Sabha, will exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge ourselves with the BJP.”

Here’s why it matters:

If at least two-thirds of the members of a party in the House agree to the merger with another party, then it is considered a valid merger and not defection. In such cases, members are not disqualified under the anti-defection law, making this provision important in group-level political realignments announced by MPs.At present Aam Aadmi Party has 10 MPs in Rajya Sabha. After this step, merger of two-thirds i.e. 7 with BJP is certain. If this number was less, then those wishing to merge would have to give up their membership of the Upper House.Therefore, if Chadha had stepped down alone, he would have had to give up his Rajya Sabha membership. But this is not so because along with the outgoing AAP leader, Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Rajinder Gupta and Vikram Sahni are also included.The purpose of the anti-defection law under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution is to prevent MPs from changing parties after being elected and to maintain stability in Parliament, including the Rajya Sabha. There is a provision for disqualification if a member voluntarily leaves the party membership or votes against the party whip.The decision on disqualification in the Rajya Sabha is taken by the Chairman on the basis of a petition by another member. However, the law also includes an exception for mergers, where the “two-thirds” condition becomes important.